Finding Severus Snape
by breached
Summary: AU Hogwarts. Time travel. The chance to right wrongs and make new discoveries. Harry/Snape
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER: THE BOOK BELONGS TO J. I HAVE ONLY BORROWED BOTH CHARACTERS AND PLOTLINE.**

_**Prologue**_

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_**Harry: Present Day**_

_**(Sixth year, Hogwarts)**_

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_Bloody hell!_ In that instant those were the only two words that my mind was able to formulate as I stood facing the deceptively warm, glowing light coming from the pensive all the while shaking uncontrollably as I eyed its poisonous, swirling waters with a bone-deep horror.

_No, no, no…_ The word repeated itself in litany as I struggled to suppress the throbbing ache in my head as it gradually became a roiling mass of questions and misgivings, when I suddenly felt a shockingly strong, pincer-like grip over my arm, yanking me rudely back to reality.

When I turned to face the owner of said hand that was firmly anchoring me from floating away in misery, I saw with dread, that it was none other than Professor Snape himself whom I had thought to have some measure of in these past five years but his present demeanor seemed entirely much too foreign to me as his usually dour face was replaced by a vicious, desperately angry man whom I could barely recognize at all but whose terrible countenance made me instantly fearful of him in that tensed moment.

He was pale and trembling with his teeth bared in a soundless snarl as he stalked me with measured steps, forcing me to back away from him when I accidently bumped into the table's surface behind me and jostled the pensive, the real culprit, whose contents had wrought such a change in him.

"I'm so sorry" I whispered holding up my hands defensively like a shield "I didn't…I didn't mean to see…I didn't know…"

"Get out!" Snape growled in a less than human voice, stopping my ineffective rant rather abruptly.

"But…"

"Get out!" He screamed and I knew then that he was not really seeing me.

The blankness in his stare frightened me so greatly that I nearly tripped over my own feet as I hastened to make a quick getaway from his enraged person but ended up crashing clumsily into one of the many cupboards lining the walls of the dungeon room.

"Crap!" I hissed under my breath and without turning around so as to avoid the potion master's wrath, I bent over hurriedly to pick up the fallen vials and other articles when I came across a stunning, peerless hourglass filled with glistening sand so reminiscent of the one that Hermione had possessed in her third year that I found myself halting involuntarily in the middle of my task to examine it.

"Leave everything and get out!" Snape's dark shadow hovered over me like a menacing cloud of doom when I heard him gasp and stumble in shock.

"Leave it all and just go" his voice was shaking violently now, sounding completely different from before but my hand which was already halfway towards the hourglass, reached for it automatically despite Snape sudden warning shout "It's been turned you damn foo…"

Time and space had no meaning anymore as I spun into a vortex of bright colors and swirly lights. My eyes closed seemingly of their own accord and I braced myself for the inevitable fall.

'_I really hate being Harry Potter'_ was my last lucid thought for a long, long time to come.


	2. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER: THE BOOK BELONGS TO J. I HAVE ONLY BORROWED BOTH CHARACTERS AND PLOTLINE.**

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_**Harry**_

_**1978, Hogsmaede**_

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The spinning had finally ceased and I had found to my immense relief that I'd landed safely on my feet which was actually quite the feat for me.

Looking around with some trepidation I instantly recognized the village I was standing in to be Hogsmaede and felt profoundly grateful for its familiarity even under the circumstances. But that happiness lasted only until I found that the time turner was no longer on my person and that I now had no way of returning home!

I frantically felt up my person dusting my suddenly tighter and shorter robes vigorously and even scrabbled around the place in a mad dash checking all the nearby grounds, trees and bushes for any sign of the missing time piece while feeling a clawing sensation of being utterly abandoned when I realized that it had simply vanished.

I stood trembling in the midst of the cold, biting air and the empty wet roads which I knew from experience could only mean that winter was fast approaching its slushy, dirty death.

Rubbing my hands together to feel a modicum of warmth, I trudged up the slippery, cobbled pavements looking dazedly at the shops I'd come to love so dearly and I was just starting to feel a little hope that maybe I was still stuck in my own time and that everything was going to be okay when I came across an extravagant shop bearing the title 'Zonko's Joke shop' above its front door and felt true despair well up inside of me once again.

In my time Zonko's had been bought lock, stock and barrel by Fred and George and had been newly refurbished into the Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes! Not stopping, I continued walking like directionless zombie as all my sense of purpose sputtered and died alongside the little warmth in my cold body when someone suddenly grabbed hold of my collar in a vice like grip from behind me and dragged me into a dark room, shutting the door behind us and all before I could even begin fighting back.

"Stop yer struggling'" I heard a mellow, deep voice command me from somewhere in the darkness but not paying any heed to it I pulled out my wand and cried out_ Lumos_ hoping against all odds that my abductor was weaker me. 'Fat chance of that ever happening' I snorted to myself 'Since when did things ever go my way? Right…'

The light from the end of my wand lit up the man's face in front of me and I had to bite my tongue to stop the reflexive shout of surprise.

"Professor Dumbledore?" I murmured in joy 'Oh thank heavens!'

"Prof…?" I repeated when he continued looking quizzically at me without answering.

"So you not only need yer head ta be fixed but yer eyes as well huh laddy?"

'Laddy? Yikes! How far back had I travelled?' "Um…" I cleared my throat in embarrassment "I'm sorry to have er…but you look exactly like him so I er…."

"Well I'm not so yer can stop yer yapping and find yerself a place to sit" he pointed towards some really filthy barstools next me before pulling out his own wand and lighting up a couple of archaic torches supported by antique looking sconces on the wall.

"Right" I said feeling terribly awkward and out of place "Thank you for…" I could feel my jaw fall open in surprise when I turned to face the wall in front in me.

It was covered from roof to floor with wanted posters of gaunt, evil, snarling faces of many death eaters with the reward money for their capture going up to thousands of galleons accompanied by desperate pleas of '_Help the Hit wizards to help yourselves! Contact the Ministry's helpline immediately if any suspicious person bearing the…'_

The faces were some of whom I'd seen in my own time, Rookwood, Lestrange, a man who bore an uncanny resemblance to Lucius Malfoy himself and some who were dead in my time but all of them I knew were the faces of death eaters! As I studied the posters in shock my eyes fell upon the date scrbbled at the very corner of one of the parchments and felt the world around me collapse!

It was the year 1978! I had travelled nearly eighteen years back in time and had ended up bang in the middle of Voldemort's first reign of terror!

"Wha' would ya like to have then?" I heard Dumbledore's lookalike ask me from somewhere beyond the fog in my mind and I mumbled back in a garbled language that even I couldn't have understood.

"Sorry" the man took it in his stride however and said "Don't 'ave that un' but I do have some good ol' butterbeer" he said and slowly ambled behind the bar counter with an assurance I found somehow comforting until he began cleaning a perfectly good glass with a rag so dirty that I started to gag in protest.

"Them butterbeers 'ave become a hard find these days" he grumbled as the glass became progressively dirtier "The war's cut off all our supplies and people are struggling' to bring home even a mouthful of food."

'Okay, breathe' I took a deep breath deliberately choosing to ignore the now brownish glass in front of me and instead decided that questioning the man would be a good start for me to find some bearing in this alien world before I went mental.

"Who are you?" Shit, my voice was quavering like a frightened little girl, _'Still the question was not that difficult to answer_' I thought, hoping that it wasn't too intrusive on my part.

The man chuckled warmly and said "You ain't from around here are ya?" He now poured the perfectly clean butterbeer into the blackened glass and handed it to me with a flourish.

"No I'm not" I said eyeballing the drink with fear.

"Thought so" the man shrugged "This here is the Hogs Head Pub" he said "and I'm its sole owner, Aberforth Dumbledore."

I had just managed to brave a sip of the butterbeer as I was simply too hungry to turn down any food but ended up choking on it when I realized that he was indeed somehow connected to Dumbledore.

"Then Albus Dumbl…"

"Aye the old codger's my brother" Aberforth said before glancing up at a portrait of a pale, waif like girl above the furnace and sighing heavily he mumbled "Aye, Albus Dumbledore is my brother" but more softly this time and with the tiniest hint of pain in his voice.

"So then you could help m…"

"What were ya doin' wanderin' these dangerous streets all by yerself anyway?" He cut short my plea as if he'd known what I was about to ask of him.

"I was um…lost" I tried for nonchalance but Aberforth suddenly lunged out at me with such alarming speed for an old man that I nearly toppled over from my current perch struggling to resist him as he pulled up the sleeves of my tattered robes roughly with a look of sudden realization and let go of my arm only when he found me innocent of whatever he was looking for.

"I was lookin' for the dark mark" he mumbled pulling away looking somehow deflated and calm once again "Can't be too sure of folks these days if ya know what I mean?"

"Sure" I placed my trembling fingers on the cool, moist surface of the drink in my hand begging for some sanity to return.

"Lookee here" Aberforth tried his best to sound soothing as he sat down heavily on the stool beside me "I know all about the sufferin' us commoners are havin' to go through what with all them powerful wizards getting' ready to do battle at our expense and I also know that in the end of this dratted war the ones who will be most affected by the consequences will be people like you and me."

He looked at the posters of the death eaters with a terrible anger and disgust in his electric blue eyes so similar to Dumbledore himself and shook his head in sorrow "I won' ask ya who yer runnin from or why" he said slowly "Jus' give me yer name and I'll let yer help me around the bar if yer have no other place to go to."

"You'll let me help you out in the bar?" I was flabbergasted. Not by the man's kindness alone but because he seemed so ready to let a mere seventeen year old help him run his precious pub.

"Th…Thank you" I was so grateful and tired and worn out that I was stammering "I really…"

"Give me yer name then?" Aberforth it seemed did not appreciate gratitude.

"I'm er…Dean Thomas" I blurted out hoping he did not notice the sudden reddening of my ears or the twitching around my eyes which happened whenever I tried lying.

"Right then Dean" He held out a dirty, gnarly old hand with thick fingers and stained nails and I took it feeling that it was the most wonderful thing I'd ever seen off late.

"I 'ave a spare room, kinda like an attic if yer need a space to sleep in and yer can use my bathroom till we fix one up for yer if yer wan' O'course?"

"Yes I would like that very much indeed" I was starting to feel icky and out of sorts but the clear directions and the warm comfort that the man exuded unknowingly made me finally relax just a tiny fraction.

When I finally managed to stagger into a small but efficient bathroom lined with greying tiles and a spotted mirror, I was forced to contend with yet another shock that left me reeling and clutching at the cracked basin blindly.

I was no longer the seventeen year old from my own time but I now looked like a man in his early twenties! Complete, with a five O'clock shadow and all! My clothes were in tatters and I looked like a disheveled vagrant! No wonder Aberforth had wanted to take me under his wing. I looked like a walking plea for help!

I remembered Hermione's fateful words from before with a sudden clarity I just about hated right then. About how time turners were dangerous things and how they warped everything around the user. How they were so unpredictable and how messed up things became if they were not handled with care.

I was so f****** out of my element!


	3. Chapter 3

**DISCLAIMER: THE BOOK BELONGS TO J. I HAVE ONLY BORROWED BOTH CHARACTERS AND PLOTLINE.**

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_**Snape**_

_**1978 Spinner's End**_

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"Three more months" I made a solemn vow to myself as I surveyed the dilapidated town beneath my bedroom window "Just three more months."

My room was in utter chaos! Littered with torn parchment paper and broken vials that I'd destroyed by my own hands, out of the anger and desolation that I'd been struggling with in silence.

Lily, I had found out only a couple of weeks ago, had been dating James Bloody Potter for quite some time since we'd last spoken and after hearing about it, I had felt much too broken to even feel the sting of her betrayal.

Her best friend, Alice Longbottom, had seemed so smug about the whole affair that she told everyone about it who were willing to listen about how happy the Hogwart's sweethearts had been after they had finally fallen in love with each other.

I had waged a terrible war my pride and ultimately won the battle as I always had when it came to her forcing myself to confront her on the matter only to be left dealing with even more hurt as she tried convincing me about how Potter had gone and reformed himself and could do no wrong anymore.

He was magically forgiven for all the bullying and tormenting that he'd been a party to in his younger days and had instead become a hero, fighting for the side of the light!

"He's changed Sev" Lily's beautiful eyes were totally blind to my pain "He's become so much more mature, so wonderful…." I had tuned out the sound of her voice which now only sang Potter's praises but came back to reality when she changed the direction of her monologue and started to chastise me instead.

"Sev" she said in a voice that sounded all too patronizing and contemptuous. A voice I was not used to hearing from Lily who had always been much too fair and honest to be anything else. "You too. You too must give up this unhealthy obsession you have for the dark arts and come join the side of the light. Even though I still can't quite get over the fact that you called me a Mudblood I'm willing to forget about it if you're willing to change."

I winced at that terrible reminder and the punishment which had ensued for it, but what really hurt was that I had known Potter and Black to have called her so much worse in their arrogant voices during a time when Potter hadn't yet begun to covet her as he did now but it was as if the past had been rewritten altogether!

On the other hand, she had known why and how angry I had been at the time I had called her that forbidden word and she still she hadn't yet forgiven me for it!

"Avery and Mulciber are evil, slimy thugs Sevvy" She used to call me that all the time during our happier days "You're so much better them" Only she had thought so until a few months ago.

She had never understood my love for the Dark Arts but I, having actually studied the subject had come to understand that it came from the same source of magic that everyone used on a daily basis and that it depended greatly on the person using it just like how the spells of the '_light_' could also be used for evil instead of good.

But people were naturally so wary of the power that it gave the user and the addiction it posed, so they had begun to fear it. Magic came from one source after all and that was something she had never accepted in our frequent debates. She had thought that I was setting myself up to become another dark lord but the funny thing was, she couldn't have been more wrong.

I was happy living in solitude. As long as I had something new to learn or another potion to make, I was content. I had more knowledge stored in my brain than most students in the school but she had failed to notice that I had never wielded it on anyone unlike her beloved James Potter who had used my own spells to humiliate me! Lily had always seen the world in black and white and once she'd come to realize that I would never be '_white_' she had given up on me while I still clung to her so desperately.

I would never be as handsome or as sparkly as bloody James Potter but I had thought that Lily was different from the other girls and that those things wouldn't matter to her. But now the entire world saw their love as nothing but perfect and it seemed so did she.

As I struggled to stop my tears from falling in front of her ever hopeful expression, Potter the scheming wanker called out her name from somewhere behind us and like quicksilver she spun around and ran impulsively towards him, kissing him on his cheek and driving the final blade into my already shattered heart.

I don't remember how I boarded the train home or how I managed to walk back from the station when all I could think about was how I'd just lost the one ray of sunshine in my dreary life. I had no illusions of ever meeting with her again as I knew all too well that bloody Potter would not allow it. He hated me as much as I hated him but this time around the bastard had finally won it all and I didn't ever want to see him again.

I was suddenly forced to surface out of my long reverie when I heard the loud crash of what sounded like glass exploding and ran down the staircase in a flight of panic. My father, Tobias Snape and the bane of mine and my mother's lives was standing in front of her wielding a broken, muggle whiskey bottle threateningly as if he intended to kill her with which might have been a possibility it in his current drunken rage.

"Stop him mother please!" I begged her as I ran towards them with my heart in my mouth "Use magic and stop him!"

"Go upstairs Severus" my mother said calmly "Go upstairs and lock the door Love. He doesn't have the guts to do anything to me, I promise" She waved me away with her eyes firmly affixed to her husband's flushed face.

And that was when he lifted the remnants of the bottle and plunged into her stomach with a bloody war cry that reached the very depths of my soul, so blood curdling, that I had nearly stopped running midway.

"Go Sevvy" My mother begged me in between labored breaths "Run away love! Run!"

But I was done running.

I took a flying leap at the man I had grudgingly called father all these years and shouted triumphantly as my eighteen year old body slammed his own to the ground and I listened with an almost maniacal glee as he began to cry pathetically making me lose my focus for just a few seconds but giving him more than enough time to retaliate.

They say that a man who is under the influence does not know his own strength and that night I learnt just how strong it made Tobias Snape. He flipped me over in one smooth move and began pummeling my face and chest with such strong blows that I could literally feel my very bones give way under the force of his fists when I heard my mother scream 'Avada Kedavra' but missed hitting him with the spell by a hair's breath.

"Die! Die you miserable bastard! Die!" She tried to summon up the strength for another spell but collapsed to floor in a tired heap. Using the minute distraction to my advantage I grabbed a shard of fallen glass from somewhere beside me and before my 'Father' could react, I plunged it deeper into his chest than I had anticipated and watched with growing horror as he sputtered and gasped before falling face forward to the ground remained unmoving!

Crying and praying for him to wake, I cautiously prodded his body with a single finger, fearfully anticipating his next attempt at striking me down again but was finally convinced that he was indeed dead when nothing of the sort happened.

Pulling up my numb body, I unconsciously pushed the incident to the very back of my mind as an act of pure self-preservation and instead slowly crawled over to where my mother was now lying curled up and clutching at a gaping, bleeding wound in her abdomen while crying softly.

"You did nothing wrong love" She whispered hastily once I'd reached her side "You were not to blame for any of this. He deserved what was coming to him and you merely stopped him out of self-defense! Look what he's done to you?" She carefully traced the stinging bruises on my face "Please remember that you only stood up to him and saved us from worse!"

"Mum let me go and bring you some potions to stop the bleeding" I evaded the topic knowing that if I acknowledged my part in the struggle, I would no longer be able to function in such a rational manner anymore.

"Severus" my mother said through more and more frequent pants and profuse sweating which I recognized immediately as signs of impending shock. "My baby" she crooned in a soft voice as if she were trapped in a dreamlike state "I'm sorry" she whispered as a single tear ran down her cheek "I'm so sorry."

Not understanding what she was sorry for, I continued speaking in that emotionless monotone "Mum, I've got to go and get the potions that could help you" I said slowly as fresh fear washed over me when she shook her slowly.

"It's too late love" my mum tried to smile valiantly even in that difficult situation which made me lose it even more.

Ignoring her weak protestations I decided to quench my burning desire to do something and left her momentarily to go and collect the potions anyway that would definitely give her a better chance of living.

Armed with several potion vials, I rushed back to her side but was left feeling hollow and suddenly terribly drained when I found her unmoving looking so very peaceful in death in a way that she had never managed to look even once during the entire span of her miserable life.

"No! Mum pleas…"

"Ah you must be Eileen'sss ssson" The coldness that emanated from the voice coming from somewhere behind me froze me in my tracks. Turing around with stilted movements like a puppet on strings, I gasped when I recognized the infamous snake like features of the greatest Dark Wizard in history.

"Wh…what are you…why…?" I couldn't think. I was still reeling and quivering from having just murdered a man and having just witnessed my mum die in a pool of her blood before my very eyes and now this! It was simply too much take in!

"I've come to collect what was promised to me by your mother" Lord Voldemort said looking entirely much too unperturbed by the mess of bodies in the living room.

"You…my mother promised you something?" I spoke like an automaton unable to comprehend a word spoken by him in that high-pitched unnatural voice.

"She was my greatest potioneer" he said without a hint of remorse as he walked over to her fallen body running a long, pale finger down the length of her arm before I could stop him and that was when I saw it. The skull and snake tattoo that slowly materialized on her skin as he turned to face me with a triumphant gleam in his blood red eyes.

"SSShe has been a well-kept secret of mine for quite sssome time now" he lorded over me with a gleeful tone in his voice that was altogether much too cruel to hear. "I promisssed her wealth and power and the chance to start a new life with a her ssson away from this muggle filth" he kicked my father's stiffening body with distaste "and what mother wouldn't jump at that offer? Ssso ssshe agreed, eagerly even and promisssed me that you, her only sssson, would follow in her footssstepss should she ever fail me in her task."

"I don't understand" I whispered "Please just leave me alone! I can't go with you, I don't want to" I begged him in desperation but he continued looking me over with a calculating gleam that seemed to be measuring my worth.

"I have heard good things about you Ssseverus Sssnape" he hissed sending shivers of revulsion down my spine. "Yess, many of your peers have ssspoken of your brilliance and your prodigy in the field of making potionss and I find that I have great use for your sskillss so I will not let this opportunity passs me by."

"Please" I hung my head low wondering for the nth time, how the world had spun so quickly off of its axis!

"You will anyway be tried and found guilty for murdering your own father by the Ministry and they will send you to Azkaban if I let the right people know of your crimes. However, if you give up your resssistance I will forget this matter ever happened and let you begin anew."

"He was going to kill my mum" I tried to reason with Voldemort of all people! That was how delirious I was in that moment. "I was only trying to protect her, to stop him from…"

"Yesss, I'm well aware of that" the Dark Lord nodded his head "I know what you were doing. But, the othersss do not and they will never believe the word of a SSSlytherin."

"I don't understand" my head had never felt so heavy as I tried to process his subtle but effective line of blackmailing "I'm only a half-blood wizard" I blurted out then, hoping that that tit-bit would stop him from acting out his grand plans for me "Your hatred for my kind is well known and the fact that you favor only purebloods…"

"Do not presssume to know what I do or do not do!" His voice had suddenly become several shades colder, laced with a quiet fury. "I chose those who follow me and they will die trying to do my bidding as you will also learn to do eventually."

"But I don't want to" I resorted to begging him again and then as if he'd finally lost his patience with me he pointed his ash colored wand over my heart and screamed the word Crucio! I was suddenly plunged into a world of such pain that everything else around me became a blur as I screamed and screamed in agony.

"Please! Please stop!" My voice came in halting bursts as the burning sensation took over all my senses.

"But this is only a taste of what will happen to you should you refuse me" the man standing over my trembling body spoke calmly "Accept my will young potioneer" his honeyed voice penetrated through the darkness.

"N—no please!" I tried mumbling only to be hit with another curse of much greater force this time around and he started cackling loudly in the face of my stubbornness repeating the words of the promise made between him and my mother in a resounding voice I had not heard from him thus far causing me to experience a brief sensation of suffocation before my left arm began to hurt as if it had been set on fire!

"You have pleasssed me with your remarkable will and fortitude in the face of death so I have chosssen you to bear my mark which will appear on your arm within the next twenty four hours. If you try to resssist its appearance, the process will become more painful than it has to be. Also remember that the next time I call for you, you will know of it automatically and you will make sure that you come to me or be prepared to suffer the consequences."

I screamed as the agony became too much to bear once again and fell to my knees when my legs wouldn't support me anymore. "No!" I was crying in frustration as the control I had over my life slowly slipped away from me into nothingness "No!"

The darkness came then and as I welcomed the temporary relief, I lost my consciousness and fell limply beside my mother who had also ended up betraying me just like Lily had.


	4. Chapter 4

**DISCLAIMER: THE BOOK BELONGS TO J. I HAVE ONLY BORROWED BOTH CHARACTERS AND PLOTLINE.**

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_**Harry**_

_**1978, Hogsmaede, 1 month since time travel.**_

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Nearly a month had passed since I'd found myself in the realm of the past and since then I've learnt not to look back but deliberately chose to carve a niche for myself in this world instead until I found my way back home.

At first the ache of separation from my friends and Ginny and the people whom I'd come to love as family was simply much too painful for me to bear. But, as I had as a child living through the mental anguish with the Dursley's, I tried valiantly to dissociate myself from the desolation and loneliness and forged a new life with Aberforth Dumbledore as my new mentor instead.

Aberforth Dumbledore whom I'd taken to calling as 'Ab' on the other hand found an immense pleasure in teaching me how to mix drinks and serve customers as I had proven to be a great source of entertainment for him.

Every time I'd start gagging over the unfamiliar, burning sensation of a particularly strong glass of Fire-whiskey or when I'd just barely managed to summon a jug of mead that inevitably exploded all over the customers startled faces, he'd let out a deep, belly rumbling laugh that would rattle even the cutlery on the bar counter in front him!

Aberforth unlike his brother Albus Dumbledore and Headmaster extraordinaire was seen as nothing but a mere simpleton by most people. They dismissed him as an odd, dubious, slightly eccentric goat herder who very obviously seemed to prefer solitude over any human company.

At first, even I had presumed as much. But one day after having been given the messy job of cleaning up after his five goats in the surprisingly large backyard of the pub which was kept well hidden from the prying eyes of outsiders and after having cursed the man for every kick, head-butt or jab I had received in my rear end for bathing the ungrateful creatures, I finally stumbled upon the real truth about him entirely by accident!

I had been trying to shovel some grain into buckets for the fish eyed little monsters when one of them gleefully spotted a fine opportunity to get me in the buttocks and I literally fell head first into the wall of the shed and was bracing myself for the crash when the slab I'd stepped on briefly suddenly disappeared and I tumbled headlong down a flight of secret stairs!

Rubbing over my aching spots I lit up my wand and picked up my bruised body from where it had landed in a tangle of arms and legs before curiously beginning the exploration of my new surroundings when I suddenly came upon a thick, foreboding door.

After quickly whispering the word Alohamora, the door creaked open and just as I was about to enter the room beyond I found myself being yanked back by one very familiar, work roughened hand that held me just out of bay from the room.

"Wha are ye doin here lad?" Ab's deep voice ricocheted around the damp, dark corridor. "How did yer find yerself in this place?" He pressed on maintaining his firm grip over my shoulders.

"I fell down the stairs when your goat kicked me" I retorted with a hint of anger (I could still feel the aches and pains from the fall!) "It's a natural instinct for me to want to see what you've got here! But if you don't want me to then just say so" I assured him thinking about all the other opportunities I'd get later on to explore the place.

"Yer mus' think I'm stupid" Ab snorted in derision "I know that a young lad like yerself will not be able to stay away from this here place" he sniggered but finally let me go.

"But I can!" I grumbled a little petulantly wondering why anyone ever called him simpleminded when he was a sharp as a goddamn hunting knife!

Sighing and shaking his great head he caught his long white hair in one hand and tied it up using a strip of leather before heading straight towards the mystery door.

"Sure yer don' wanna see wha's in here then, eh laddy?" He asked me with a broad smile that seemed to warm the deep blue in his eyes in a manner that was very unlike Albus Dumbledore's slightly disconcerting twinkle.

"I er…maybe just a little…I mean I er…"

Chuckling he pushed the heavy door open and gestured for me to follow him into the room beyond. What I saw inside nearly wrenched a surprised shout from me but I managed to stop myself in the nick of time.

The walls were plastered with graphic photographs of people whose mangle remains were glowing an eerie green from the dark mark over their heads along with hundreds of newspaper clippings bearing the face of a woman and a familiar looking man I'd seen somewhere or perhaps had learnt about during my studies of the History of Magic and that's when it hit me! I was staring bug eyed at the face of Bartemius Crouch Sr!

The articles were all about how the Ministry had begun the process of another election and the most recurrent faces that were visible on them were those of the strong willed, no-nonsense Millicent Bagnold whom I knew from my books who I knew would go on to win the majority of the votes and who come to rule the Wizarding world with an iron fist but she was currently pitted against Barty Crouch Sr. who I knew from personal experience gave up his position out of guilt from having to protect his wayward son.

Apart from the photos and clippings there were several maps with tiny black dots moving across the parchment not unlike the marauders map and on closer inspection I realized that they bore the names of several members of the Order of the Phoenix itself!

The shelves further inside were well stocked with medicinal potions and herbs out of which several were illegal like the Polyjuice and Veritaserum as well! Turing to face the calm countenance of the supposed 'goat herder' I gave him a hard stare but he remained entirely too passive under my somehow accusatory glare.

"I'm jus' one of the many eyes and ears that work for the Order of the Phoenix" he shrugged as if it weren't a big deal at all but I instantly knew then that he was one of the key players in the first war.

Pointing to some of the photographs that depicted the mangled remains of hundreds of muggle families with children (which were making me feel nauseous and sick to my core) he said in a voice that brooked no leniency whatsoever "Voldmort is a monster that needs ta be stopped, an' fer tha' ta happ'n, every one of us mus' contribute towards his downfall with wha' lil' skills we mighta possessed or we mus' be prepared to face utter annihilation tha' will most certainly follow in our incompetence."

"When you speak of him it's almost as if you do not fear him but more as if you hold him in contempt for his actions" I tried to put my emotions into words and it seemed as if the barkeeper had understood them perfectly.

"Aye" he smiled at me with one of those rare but truly heart-warming smiles. "Aye I do not fear the scoundrel as he is not the first evil tha' I hav' encountered" he shook his head sadly "I hav' witnessed the tyranny of Grindelwald himself but even 'im I did not come fear as much as one other…" he walked towards a cluttered table standing in the middle of the room and picked up a faded photograph of a girl who very much resembled the painting in the bar.

"Between Grindelwald and Voldemort there is a marked difference" he said sounding almost thoughtful. "Grindelwald simply hated everyone for no rhyme or reason whereas Voldemort comes with an undeniable history and a somewha' reason fer his here misery. There are some people I've known in my lifetime who are born into this world who are true sadists and some who become them. In other words, those whose pleasure lies in another's pain and unfortunately Grindelwald was one such black-hearted villain. He felt that muggles only seemed to clutter up an otherwise perfect world and he decided to wrought terrible havoc amongst them to bring them to their untimely deaths but before he could do so he was forced to stop and I'm sure that you are well aware of who stopped him but…"

"Wait" I held up my hands "I know that it was Professor Dumbledore himself who finished him off but what I really want to know is who you've come to fear more than Voldemort or Grindelwald?"

"Ah caught on did ya?" Ab chuckled "Yer a truly bright lad yer know?"

"Well? Go on then" I waited with some impatience "Who is the one you truly fear?"

"I cannot say" Ab slowly placed the framed photo back on the table's surface with infinite care "It is a fear that might be entirely groundless and would only cause panic should it be spread amongst the masses so it is best kept a secret don't ya think?"

"Maybe" I know I sounded unsure of myself but I had spent enough time with the man to know that once he chose not to talk no one on earth would be able to pry his secrets from him!

"The real question here laddy is, what are you going to do with all this information" Ab looked around the room as the tension spiked up just a notch.

"Are ye goin' to join us in our fight or are ye goin' to deflect to side of the enemy or the third option, are ye gonna jus' run?"

"Are those my only choices?" I did not like where this was heading and I knew that my next question needed to be phrased with more care unless I wanted to end up as another goat in ol' Ab's flock.

"What if I did not have to choose?" I asked him very cautiously "What if I chose to remain neutral instead?" I had suddenly come to the realization that in this world I was no savior. I was an ordinary person who had no home to go to and that no one expected anything from me! No way in hell was I going to let this golden opportunity to stay clear out of the war elude me now!

And as always any hope that I may have had was shattered in an instant when Ab burst out laughing and thumped me hard my shoulder with enough force to hammer to me into the ground. "Yer can dream if yer wan'ter lad!" He was now wiping away tears from laughing so hard "The only way to stay neutral in the war is to be dead and you sure as hell don't wanna go tha' way now, do ya?"

"I…dropped out magic school a little after my owls" I continued to hedge "I have yet to learn how to apparate and to learn spells of greater power. How would someone like me be useful?"

"I will teach you all that you need to know" Aberforth realized that I was slowly coming around to his idea and seemed relieved somehow by my decision "So if that is your only fear then will you choose to fight by our side?"

Sighing, I bowed my head in acquiescence. Now, there was simply no way I could continue this peaceful existence I had created for myself and once again I began praying for the day I found the blasted time turner once again.


	5. Chapter 5

**DISCLAIMER: THE BOOK BELONGS TO J. I HAVE ONLY BORROWED BOTH CHARACTERS AND PLOTLINE.**

* * *

_**Harry**_

_**1978, Hogsmaede, The Three Broomsticks.**_

* * *

"Oh my Mr. Thomas, aren't you the handsome one?" The butterbeer I had been chugging down happily suddenly went right up my nostrils and as I gagged and sputtered incomprehensively at the unexpected complement Madame Rosmerts fluttered her eyelashes at me rather invitingly.

To witness a younger and much hotter Madame Rosmerta leering at _me_ like I was a particularly delicious treacle tart was decidedly unsettling! If Ron had been there with me, he would have turned a nice shade of green and would have been consumed with jealousy since he'd been carrying an unrequited torch for her ever since we'd first entered the Three Broomsticks in our third year!

"Really now! Don't let that old fart you live with monopolize you or make you work too hard! He's the perfect example of a lazy bum and needs to be uprooted from that filthy place he so proudly calls a pub."

"Er…I'll er…sure" I swallowed a giant gulp of my chilled drink to avoid any form of conversation with the overly loud mistress of the pub but unfortunately for me business at the three broomsticks had also suffered a great loss of customers as a result of the war so I had ended up becoming her favorite pastime instead.

We sat chatting about mundane things like music and Madame Rosmerta's first crush which she'd had on her DADA teacher of all people, who had had to leave the school within a year's time when he'd found out that his mother was dangerously ill and we had just been laughing over Madame Rosmerta's dismal OWL scores in Transfiguration because she'd taken just one too many potions for a persistent cold before the exam which had unfortunately also possessed highly sedative properties when the last family sitting in the dining room thanked her for the meal and paid her for the services provided.

Once the door closed behind them she pulled out a pipe from a hidden pocket within the folds of her robes and with dark, red lacquered nails she lit the bally thing up while managing to simultaneously wink seductively at me!

"Anne!" she called out for her younger protégé "Could you look after the place for me for a couple of minutes? I really need a breather and will be out in the alley if you need me" she smiled sweetly at the flushed girl before regally heading straight towards a door that I knew lead into the store room.

I counted exactly up to a hundred and finishing of the rest of my drink which I paid Anne for I too walked out of the three broomsticks only to duck stealthily into a rather questionable alley just adjacent to the pub itself to find the cunning vixen leaning calmly against the wall behind her with one leg propped up drawing my eyes to the finest legs I'd ever seen!

The air around her was hazy with thick, white spirals of smoke that were rolling out of her puckered mouth giving her an air of absolute wantonness which made me blush scarlet and drool like a dog in my still puerile seventeen year old mind.

As soon as she laid eyes on me however she tapped the end of her pipe against the wall to put out its glowing embers and held out a sheaf of parchments for me to take. "It's really unsafe for us to meet like this" she sighed tiredly, all playfulness disappearing from her voice "I'm only doing this because I owe Aberforth a great debt for helping me with my supplies."

Taking the proffered documents in my hand, I grinned at her ruefully but did not reply in return since we'd both known that there was no answer to give.

"This bit of information took me nearly two to weeks to procure which I think is a little more time than your boss provided me with, even if that that wasn't enough time for me to make a good job of it. Everyone's becoming more and more cautious with what they say and whom they speak to but I called in a couple of favors so no worries."

I thanked her for her efforts and was about to leave when she spoke so softly that I almost missed it "Don't get involved in this anymore than you can, Dean. Nothing is worth your life!"

She suddenly leaned in towards me and before I could register her sudden movement in my mind she had kissed me on my lips, startling me out of my wits in the bargain. "Go on with ya" she laughed at my bemused expression "And Dean? Take-care of yourself alright…"

Wiping of the stains from her lipstick so as to avoid being teased mercilessly by the Prewitt brothers, I readied my stance and quite easily managed to apparate myself back to the Hog's head pub, which was one the few new skills I had only recently acquired.

"Ah the man of the hour is back!" Fabian Prewitt a tall red haired man who was one of Mrs. Weasley's older brothers stood up from the barstool he had been sitting on in the dingy pub that Aberforth had stubbornly refused to make any changes to and came over to pull me into a warm hug I realized was the norm for their entire touchy-feely family.

Fabian and Gideon Prewitt were the only two members of the Order that Aberforth had introduced me to. Their resemblance in looks and attitude were so reminiscent of Fred and George that it had been very easy for me to become good friends with them in the short time that we'd come to know each other.

"Dean" Gideon followed in the wake of his brother to shake my hands in that easy manner of his "It seems that all those lessons me and Fabian gave you on apparition were finally put to good use, yes?

"It helped some" I agreed with an air of affected nonchalance making them both snort in amusement. "So where's Ab gone off to then?" I had scanned the room with a quick once over but couldn't find him anywhere.

"Fawkes just popped in a couple minutes ago before you came back" Fabian ran his hand through the unruly mass of flaming red hair on his head and sighed "Ol' Dumbles has probably found us another job to do or something happened" his normally warm, brown eyes suddenly turned a shade darker which was proof enough for his reluctance.

"Well, Rosmerta gave me the papers so what's next in our plan?" I couldn't help asking as I handed over the hard won documents to the two men in front of me.

"Well the foreign Envoys were murdered just two week before your arrival here so my opinion is that we should also get a move on and smoke out the spy already" Gideon the ever impatient retorted.

"Blast it! Those envoys had come to Britain to sign a peace treaty with our Ministry which would help us form alliances with other nations to aid us in our fight against Voldemort. But now, the whole things just gone to pot and the other countries have started accusing us of incompetence saying that we've gone and double crossed them instead!"

"Yeah the DMLE just fucked up big time and if we don't find the source of the leak soon, there's going to be hell to pay!"

"So these documents are…?" I couldn't help asking, wondering how they intended to go about their job.

"It's a list of all the members in that department with most of their personal and public matters recorded which no one can get access to under normal circumstances."

"Yeah, Rosmerta's a real pro when it comes to learning everything about everyone! She's got some amazing sources in higher up places that one can only dream of having and they don't mind helping her out as long as she continues plying them with her best mead!"

"I don't think that mead's the only thing that keeps them coming back for more" Gideon smirked nastily while I couldn't help laughing at the obvious double entendre.

"True" Fabian grinned "The old fox has them wrapped around her itty bitty little finger and they'd willingly die for the smallest smile to be bestowed on them."

"She must have tried to win you over as well, huh Dean?" Gideon nudged me mischievously.

"Maybe, maybe not" I remained supremely aloof which only caused them to laugh riotously once more when the door to the cellar suddenly banged open and Ab emerged from the stairs below looking decidedly disgruntled.

"Albus wants us to attend another meeting tonight" he scowled with distaste. "He said that the others in the group should also be kept well informed of our progress with the case because apparently, Barty's gotten his knickers twisted up again and is going around the place demanding justice and a quick solution to their temporary suspension from work."

"The temp Minster has been pleading with Albus to get a move on with the case as quickly as possible and now we're the ones caught up in a right mess!"

"Ab?" I spoke softly so as not to the set off the old man on another one of his steaming rants "What about me? Should I also come for the meeting?"

"No!" All three of them immediately shouted at my mere suggestion.

"But…"

"Dean" Ab walked up to me and spoke sternly as if reprimanding a five year old "I've already told you that I don't want the other's to know of your role in all this as yet." He and the Prewitt brother's exchanged knowing glances leaving me out of the loop once again which only irked me that much more.

"Is it because you don't trust me? I could…"

"It's not that mate" Fabian cut me off "You are just not yet ready to face up to the challenges us Order members have been put up to. Having gauged your ability to grasp things however, I should say that it won't be long now before you can join in. When we spar I sometimes get the feeling that you've resigned yourself to being a middling wizard for the rest of your life and that you're almost wary of using all that immense untapped energy within you. I can sense that you will be capable of greatness if you let yourself believe in it Dean and once we're done teaching you more on stealth and how to defend yourself, none of us will get in your way" he shrugged.

"Right now you are safest here with us and that is all we want for you" Ab added gruffly before turning around to wipe the perfectly clean countertop with another filthy rag that he kept on his person at all times.

"I er…Th…thank you" I couldn't help the big ass smile that came from the warmth in his words. It seemed than no matter whether I was in this world or my own or even that I was now a man of nearly twenty two years, some people still saw the absurd need to baby me! "I wish to be of more use to you but even I'm not that suicidal, so thank you" Gideon patted me on my shoulder before calling out to Ab.

"We should leave now old man" he said gently with a kind smile on his face. "Let's just get this over with so we can move on with our bloody lives shall we?"

"Dean" Ab turned to look at me "Why don' ya have a look at them documents when we're gone and see if ye can find anythin' amiss. I'm not yet ready ta tell the Order of this here new information as it will only cause more trouble for Rosy which I hope is an opinion that the two of you share with me" he glared at the twins threateningly.

"Of course we do" The two them said in sync, a habit I found hauntingly similar to their newly born nephews "We don't particularly ever want to get on your bad side old man, now do we?" Fabian thumped him on his back in a friendly gesture before winking at me and disapparating to the venue of their meeting.


	6. Chapter 6

**DISCLAIMER: THE BOOK BELONGS TO J. I HAVE ONLY BORROWED BOTH CHARACTERS AND PLOTLINE.**

* * *

_**Harry**_

_**1978, Hogs Head, The evening.**_

* * *

No more! If I looked at one more stinking parchment I was going to bust a blood vessel! How I wished for Hermione's genius in that moment! Closing my tired eyes for a seconds respite I pretended that I was back in Hogwarts in the warm Gryffindor common room playing a game of exploding snap with Ron or listening to Ron and Hermione bicker like an old married couple while Ginny, beautiful Ginny sat on the floor reclined against my knees while being super sarcastic about Lavender's and Parvati Patil's latest relationship while I sniggered uncontrollably stuffing my face with a handful of Bertie Botts flavoured beans.

The ache was back stronger than ever but I pushed it down somewhere so deep inside of me making sure that the chances of my getting hurt would be slim to none. Deciding that reading the detailed profiles of the members of the DMLE was a much safer activity than brooding I pulled out the next file which held all the personal and public details of none other than Bartemius Crouch Sr. himself!

Reading with some interest since I'd actually met the man and known his history in my own time, I found that he was probably the most boring candidate of the lot! The man was such a stickler for rules that even the current Head of his department had difficulty dealing with him. As I read further I learnt of his wife's illness and how his son had started to play truant at home. It was the whole package of a rebellious child, complete with reclusive friends, drinking, smoking, throwing money and his father's name around like a spoilt, rotten brat!

So this was probably when Bartemius Crouch Jr. Had joined forces with Voldemort just to spite his proletarian father! And just as that thout entered my mind I had my first magnificent brainwave for the evening!

Who better to make a spy than the son of one of the top officers in the DMLE? I knew that it was just a small hunch but the what ifs were a constant weight on my mind. The biggest what if being that, what if the boy had actually sold out his own father and informed the Dark Lord of the foreign envoy?

Trying to squelch my excitement I went ahead and finished reading the other reports as well making a couple of notes here and there narrowing my list suspects down to three of the members who'd been spotted conducting suspicious activities around the period of the massacre. Now, all I had to do was convince Ab and the others that it was the son whom I considered the most likely criminal!


	7. Chapter 7

**DISCLAIMER: THE BOOK BELONGS TO J. I HAVE ONLY BORROWED BOTH CHARACTERS AND PLOTLINE.**

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**Warning: Suicidal Intent in this chapter. Do not continue reading if you're squeamish, thank you.**

**Snape**

**1978, Platform 9 and ¾.**

* * *

"Sev!" Lily came running over to where I was standing alone on the platform nine and three quarters. "I heard about your parents and that it was Vold…"

"Don't…don't speak his name!" I hissed at her angrily.

"Sev?"

"We aren't friends anymore Lily" my voice was coming from a place I had no control over but I'd told myself that this act was very necessary. If Lily was to be kept safe I had no other choice but to push her away from me, even if it ripped me into shreds.

"Did something happen to you?" She stepped closer to me, invading my personal space with her usual lack of tact but I hardened myself against her wonderful presence and continued in a soulless manner "Potter not keeping you on his leash anymore? Gotten a bit soft has he? Does he know that his girlfriend's here consorting with the bloody enemy?"

"What's gotten into you then?" She snapped when I'd gone one step too far.

"Stay the fuck away from mudblood!" I had cried for three days after the dark mark had appeared on my arm and at the end of it I was left so utterly drained of all emotion, that I was surprised by the sudden feeling of self-revulsion swamping me. Coward! I screamed at myself. You're nothing but a bloody, spineless coward Severus Snape!

"So they've finally gotten to you is it? Mulciber must be celebrating his victory at winning such a prize!" she spat in derision.

"Yes" I smiled meanly at her "And I was standing right beside him during the party."

"I give up Sev" the fight in her died a physical death and it was so lonely to watch it but I told myself over and over again that it was for her sake.

She walked away from me then and I whispered an inaudible "Goodbye" at her retreating back wondering if I would ever find another whom I could love as much as I'd come to love her!

It was a blessing that I hadn't yet received any summons from the Dark Lord but nevertheless I continued to live in constant fear. The only other noteworthy thing that had happened to me over the summer holidays after his visit had been my finding a stunning time turner which unfortunately bore a tiny crack in it making it terribly dangerous to use. But it was so beautiful and for some strange reason I felt somehow so connected to it like Déjà vu or something so I had ended up picking it off the floor and placing it amongst my very limited number of possessions.

'Everything's changed' I thought as I boarded the Hogwarts Express 'I still have three more months until school lets out but now I truly have nowhere to go.

* * *

_**Snape**_

_**1978, Hogwarts, 2 and ½ months to NEWTS.**_

* * *

It came, my first summons, in the dead of night two and half months before the NEWTS and as I clutched my arm reflexively at the stinging pain from the terrible reminder, I stumbled out of my bed and nearly ran towards the fireplace in the common room to receive the first of many orders.

A single parchment fell to the floor bearing the words 'Polyjuice Potion' on it and before I could fully assimilate the implications of it, it burst into flames and disappeared from my sight!

The next day, Mulciber dropped a huge parcel on my lap during breakfast and then smiling knowingly at me, which only incited my anger even more; I carried the package up to my room and opened its wrapping to reveal all the necessary ingredients required to make the illegal potion.

On some detached level I was even excited at the prospect of trying my hand at out at making a potion whose ingredients I would never have been able to afford on my own but on the other hand I felt a sick twisted sensation in my gut when I thought about the many uses the Dark Lord would find for it.

I was no optimist and knew full well that the blasted thing would only be used for evil but I had no way out of making it unless I chose to die which I didn't find the courage to do, so I went ahead and began the tedious process of making the most perfect Polyjuice Potion that I could manage.

Soon more and more summons came in with easier potions to brew and as I readied them one by one I would hand them over to Mulciber or Avery who became the unofficial go inbetween's until I read the headlines of the Daily Prophet one month away from the Newts.

Three separate explosions during rush hour in three very prime muggle locations, killing nearly fifty people and injuring over a hundred! The part that left me retching in bathroom for over an hour until I saw blood mixed with the acidic bile however, was the fact that three discarded vials containing a highly potent exploding potion had been found at all three sites of the explosions and every single one of them had been brewed by me!

That was the first time I started my routine of consuming draughts of Peace and Sleeping Draughts as I kept seeing the scarred faces of the victims over and over in my mind. I could feel my mind slowly coming apart and knew that if I did not help myself, I was going to end up in the crazy ward in Mungo's as I was too overcome by the guilt, the horror and depression. So I began to master the art of occlumency along with the rest of my studies so that I could finally find a place in my mind where I could recede in peace without anyone else invading the privacy.

* * *

_**Snape**_

_**1978, Hogwarts, Sometime after**__._

* * *

"Yo Snivellus!" I heard the obnoxious voice of Sirius Black call out to me "You gotten greasier since the holidays then?"

"Siri stop it!" James chastised his best mate before shooting an apologetic look my way making me gag in utter shock. "He doesn't know about what happened to you during the hols so just let it go this time alright?" He told me soothingly like we were friends or something!

"What on earth are you talking about?" Sirius was looking at James with a look that seemed very similar to my own.

"His parent di…"

"Expelliarmus" I cried automatically to stop the words from being spoken in such a callous manner and by a boy who'd made my life a living hell and proceeded to watch with some satisfaction as Black's wand flew out of his hands to fall several feet away from the two of them.

"Wha…? Get the f*** back here!" Black came at me furiously which was exactly what I wanted in that moment, a place to vent all my frustrations on.

"Mimble wimble" I let the wordless magic do its job and I nearly started hooting with laughter when the stupid mutt struggled to form the simplest of words with his twisted tongue.

"Impedimenta" James finally joined in the fray in defense of his friend but I dodged the spell so easily that his jaw nearly hit the floor in his shock! The idiot had had no idea of what was coming to him! I had never once fought back all those times that I had been bullied by him in the past and I had let it all go unchallenged only because I had had Lily at my side then. But now, now I was like a muggle vehicle without breaks and felt was more than ready to decimate the overly smug bastards when I heard Prof. McGonagall come to the rescue of her precious Gryffindors from the opposite side room.

"Twenty points from all three of you!" She shouted in anger "I can't give you three detentions when you'll are so close to your Newts but if this incident should repeat itself, you will all be banned from ever taking the examination in the future, do you understand?"

I nodded mutely before gathering my fallen stuff and headed back towards the Slytherin tower ignoring all the many boos and hisses I received from Potter's and Black's innumerable fans.

* * *

_**Snape**_

_**1978, Hogsmaede, 3 week to NEWTS.**_

* * *

Three weeks before the Newts exam, everyone in the seventh year had had enough! The usual antics of consuming brain enhancing potions and chewing pickled slugs for acquiring better concentration was rampant once again amongst the masses like just we'd experienced during our Owls but it seemed that there was absolutely nothing in the schools black-market to take away the frustration!

Luckily for us however Prof. Slughorn who was ever the students champion, came to our rescue when we all had reached the very ends of our tethers and he got us the permission to spend an entire day in Hogsmaede as a stress reliever after making enough number of promises to accompany us himself so as to make sure that we were safe from the dangers plaguing the outside world at the time.

Ever since my first year at Hogwarts I had noticed that the school was divided in its loyalties. It was always us Slytherins against the rest of them and during times of strife such as these we were constantly reminded of our differences. The other three houses moved in tight knit groups keeping a fixed distance from our house and the funny thing was, was that the members of the Slytherin welcomed their revulsion as they felt that they were better off without the riff raff.

I was one of the rare half-bloods to have been admitted into the house and so far I had managed to keep it a secret from the rest of the school with a few exceptions like Lucius Malfoy who'd already left school and Lily of course. It wasn't that I was ashamed of who I was. In fact I was proud of the fact that I, a mere half-blood could easily best most of the students in my class! Lily had even given me the nick-name of 'the half-blood prince' during my second year when I had started crowing over my potions results which had been the highest score that no one else had managed to achieve!

The day we'd all taken a break at hogsmaede was no different and the division in the ranks was more evident than ever.

Deciding that I needed a break from my batch-mates, I started to walk in a direction that was different from theirs when I was suddenly pushed into a dark alley by someone whose face I did not get a chance to see. In a matter of seconds I found myself petrified by my assaulter and only then did I recognize the person as none other than Sirius Black!

"No one to rescue you now, Snivellus" The dog was grinning like he'd just accomplished something great.

"What?" He sniggered "Cat got your tongue then?" He smirked when I couldn't reply to his taunting.

"This is for last time you miserable bastard!" He kicked me in my stomach and even though I couldn't feel the pain right then, I knew that it would hurt like a bitch once the spell over my person had been removed.

He kicked me hard once more and it looked like he wouldn't stop when Potter, Lily and their faithful hanger-ons, Lupin the werewolf and Peter Pettigrew the rat came running into the picture.

"Siri, stop!" James hollered pulling his friend away from me and Lily looking furiously at him strode over to where I had fallen and ended the spell bringing with it a wave of pain so strong that it made me groan involuntarily.

"What?" Black looked at all of us with that same innocence in his eyes that nearly had all the girls in school sickening after. "Snivellus was asking for it and you know it" he looked almost accusingly at Potter for taking my side.

"James" Lily's voice had gone cold "Get him out of here and give us minute will you?"

"What?" Potter protested "Leave you with him? Will you be okay?" How dare _he_! How dare Potter the newly reformed bully ask her that! As if I would ever hurt her, Lily, my best friend!

"Just go!" Lily bit out impatiently and I couldn't help cheering at how cutting her tone sounded.

Turning to me she spoke a few simple spells that eased the pain and lessened the bruising when she suddenly caught hold of my left arm and looked at my face with those green eyes of hers with such betrayal and disappointment in them that for a moment I wished she had not shown up at all.

"Why Sev?" She was looking at my mark with stark revulsion on her face which had become really pale. "Why did you join his side? You always said that he was an extremist and that you'd never even be tempted but now…"

"Would you believe me, if I told you that I had had no choice in the matter?" I asked her softly and she backed away from me like I was diseased, which in a way I really was.

"Are you trying to mock my intelligence?" She whispered "I knew that you've changed, but this much?"

"Lil…"

"Don't!" Lily shouted with angry tears in her eyes "We're done Snivellus! Don't ever try even talking to me again!" She stalked off in a rage leaving me propped up against the wall of the alley with a giant sized hole in my heart.

Pushing myself off of the ground I stumbled over to nearest shop that I could find so that the others wouldn't witness the utter defeat in my face. The shop turned out to be the rarely visited Hogs head pub which was a non-descript pub by hogsmaede's standards a fact I was very pleased about in that moment of despair.

Sitting down on a barstool inside, I was thoroughly lost in a field of my own thoughts when someone rapped the counter slab in front of me asking rather curtly what I wanted to have. Looking up the bartender with tired eyes I nearly fell off my stool in shock when I saw how closely the man resembled James Potter, the bane of my existence, and funnily enough he seemed to be sporting a similar look of shock on his face!

"You…you're…" he was stammering because I'd probably startled him with my sudden movement but when I looked into his eyes and saw the emerald fire in them, the same color I'd come to adore on Lily, I just ran out of the pub without a single apology!

No, I couldn't face those accusing eyes again! I just simply couldn't.

Running back into the dark alley I sank to floor and began shivering from the shock I'd just endured. Suddenly I was hit but the fact that Lily hated me and then I knew with crystal clear clarity that I couldn't go on!

I was simply too tired of it all. Everyday praying that the Dark Lord wouldn't give me a new job to do which usually ended in mass murder or reading the Daily prophet like some scared criminal which I was slowly becoming or loosing Lily and my parents and worst of all, feeling so alone and desperate that I simply had lost the urge to live.

Pulling out my wand from within the folds of my robes I thought up the word Sectusempra in my mind and watched detachedly as a deep cut appeared across my narrow wrist, severing my artery so easily causing the blood to spurt up in tiny fountain.

As I emotionlessly watched the red rivulets pour out from my self-inflicted wound I felt a blessed fatigue overcome my limbs and I sat in blissful solitude as my life slowly but surely ebbed away from me.


	8. Chapter 8

**DISCLAIMER: THE BOOK BELONGS TO J. I HAVE ONLY BORROWED BOTH CHARACTERS AND PLOTLINE.**

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_**Harry**_

_**1978, Hogs Head Pub.**_

* * *

'Bloody hell!' I was stunned out of my wits as I stood staring at the face of a much younger Severus Snape and instinctually felt the need to run the heck away from him when I was reminded of the fact that the man didn't even know who I was in this world, even if he was looking at me like he'd just seen a ghost.

This was a meeting that I was just not up to facing that day as I had spent the entire night yesterday following the young, out of bounds Bartemius Crouch as he went club hopping with rest of his wastrel friends till the wee hours of the morning.

So far I had found nothing incriminating about him which was becoming increasingly frustrating a fact which everyone kept reminding me off every evening before I left to chase after him calling it a wild goose chase!

I knew in my gut that I was not wrong but explaining to them why I was so sure was inviting my-self to a whole new set of problems that I was just not yet ready to discuss. Atl east I was thankful that they'd finally deemed me capable of carrying out this mission so I promised myself that I would not let them down even if Hermione's voice of changing the events of the future causing terrible repercussions constantly rang warning bells at the back of my mind.

Looking at the woebegone expression on Snape's young face in front of me was a painful reminder of the last time that I'd seen the Professor in his dungeons for my occlumency lesson which was when my life had turned upside down and I'd landed myself into another interval of time altogether with no way of going back home!

The memories from his pensive with my father and the other marauders bullying him and my mum coming to his defense were still so clear in my mind that I had to stop myself from blurting out a word of sympathy when he suddenly gave me a look of absolute horror and fled the room like his bum was on fire!

"Wait…!" I called out to him uselessly but he was out in flash and I just let him go without chasing after him because honestly, I did not want to brave a conversation with the man who'd been outwardly hateful towards me since I was a mere of eleven. But his appearance left me with the happy thought that soon I might possibly even have the chance of meeting my Dad, mum and Sirius in this realm!

It was nearly fifteen minutes later since the once churlish man/boy had scarpered out of the room when I decided to keep the used bottles in the alley outside the store did I find Snape once again. This time however our meeting proved entirely different when I saw that he looked like death warmed over and was sitting in a pool of what looked like his-own blood.

Calling for Ab, I quickly located the wound in the meanwhile taking a second to register that it actually looked like it had been self-inflicted before closing it with a quickly uttered spell of Diffindo and levitating his limp body up into the air so that I could bring him back to my room above the pub.

"I recognize him from the papers" Gideon was staring blankly at the very obvious dark mark on his arm. "His parents were the ones who'd been murdered by Voldemort only recently. It make no sense that he should be…"

"You mean what prompted him to join the Dark wizard?" Ab finished his question for him. "I think I might be able to answer that for you" he sighed, sitting down heavily on a high-backed chair in the room "He was obviously coerced into it with the threat of death!"

"How can you be so sure?" Fabian asked the wise old man curiously.

"His loneliness and devastation is writ all over his countenance" Ab said impatiently "A man who wanted to be a death eater would not have tried to kill himself. A real death eater would kill rather than brave death himself! They are a motely bunch of unfeeling bastards while this young man obviously feels too much and regrets his lot in life."

"That we'll have to see only when he wakes up" Fabian maintained his stance "The boy bears his mark and by all rights should be handed over to the Ministry to be kept under custody. God knows what his involvement in this war has been and how many people's deaths he is responsible for!"

"I agree" Gideon nodded "He needs to be bound before he wakes up and gets away. No leniency should be shown towards these monsters."

"Dean? What about you mate? What do you think about all this? You've been really quiet this whole time. Surely, even you must have some sort of opinion?" Fabian turned towards me with a kind smile on his handsome face.

I however, was still reeling under the shock of seeing my former potions master whom I had felt such mixed emotions of loathing and pity nearly die in front of me that it had really done a number on me! At that moment I couldn't really formulate any sensible thoughts so I mumbled a soft 'let's wait till he wakes up' and headed off towards the bathroom to clear away the fog in my head with a cold shower.


	9. Chapter 9

**DISCLAIMER: THE BOOK BELONGS TO J. I HAVE ONLY BORROWED BOTH CHARACTERS AND PLOTLINE.**

* * *

_**Snape**_

_**1978, Hogs Head Pub.**_

* * *

Opening my eyes groggily I looked around the room from where I was lying down and wondered dimly why in the world hell looked like someone's attic when I suddenly sat up with the startling realization that I was alive and well, with my wound neatly sealed and all my blood fully replenished with a blood replenishing potion!

"Stay exactly where you are!" Someone stuck a wand at the level of my neck, digging into my skin as if they were afraid that I'd simply up and disappear!

"Who…where am I?" I eyed the wand fearfully at being ambushed so suddenly.

"My name is Gideon Prewitt" The man spoke in a professional manner "And right now, I'm the man who will kill you without any hesitation whatsoever should you refuse to answer my questions!"

"I've heard of you" my heart sank on hearing the name of one the most renowned Hit wizards in the Ministry who was responsible for catching several Death eaters in the past.

"Good" Prewitt said with a smirk "So then will you cooperate or would you prefer to be handed over to Azkaban?"

"I…I'll talk" My throat was so dry that it was painful to even swallow.

"Will you agree to a truth serum?" Another man who was a mirror of Gideon Prewitt himself suddenly spoke from beside me.

"Veritaserum?" I was so screwed!

"Tha's exactly right!" He said in a voice that brooked no argument.

Looking around me, I nearly jumped out of my skin when I saw the same James Potter look-alike whom I had first seen in the Hogs Head pub and quickly looked away from what strangely looked like recognition in his eyes.

"I accept" I knew that there was no other way and that it was much better than the other option of giving my-self up which was an absolutely terrifying notion!

I of course didn't remember what I had been asked once I had consumed the potion but what I saw from their faces made my pride bristle at their looks of compassion and pity.

"Ab" One of the Prewitt spoke to cover up the awkwardness that had fallen over the group "Albus needs to be informed of this" he said before I could protest.

An old man who had not been in the room before but who looked remarkably like the headmaster himself nodded in agreement but almost looked at me with sadness when he did.

"I agree" the man called 'Ab' said "Bu' only because this ere' boy is still in school which puts 'im under my brother's jurisdiction so to speak and we'll 'ave no choice bu' to inform him about this ere' latest development or face his contempt later on ourselves."

"But what if…" One of the twins whom I couldn't tell apart said disapprovingly.

"Fabian!" Ab stopped him midway "Tha' is for im' and this 'ere boy, Severus, to decide. Wha' Severus chooses to do with his own life, is entirely his right! We know wha' Albus might demand of him in return but whether e' wants to play such a dangerous double game is entirely 'is prerogative!"

"Ab!" Fabian looked at me with some discomfort. "He's much too young to have to be put into such a situation!"

"I can take of myself" I couldn't help the sneer on my face when my ego took another hit.

"You don't know what you're getting into" Fabian sighed but backed off leaving me confused with my own decision to disregard his help when we all suddenly heard someone call shout "I'm leaving!" before a door slammed shut and everyone took to looking at each other with worried glances.

"He should not have to do this Ab" Gideon said with clenched fists. "It is much too dangerous for one so untrained in such matters."

"'Ee won't listen ter me. I think the lads trying ta prove his worth to us so I'll give 'im a couple more days before I pull 'im out of this madcapped scheme he's got going" Ab dusted his robes in a practiced gesture and headed out the door with a mumbled goodnight thrown my way.

"The school's been informed of your absence" Fabian suddenly changed the topic. "We'll have to meet with the Headmaster tomorrow to explain your situation but until then, you're welcome to spend the night here if you so choose it."

"Thank you" I said stiffly, unbending greatly from my otherwise cold demeanor, hoping that the next day would find me a solution to escape the darkness that I'd been trapped in for so long now.


	10. Chapter 10

**DISCLAIMER: THE BOOK BELONGS TO J. I HAVE ONLY BORROWED BOTH CHARACTERS AND PLOTLINE.**

* * *

_**Harry**_

_**1978, the Hanged Man Pub.**_

* * *

I couldn't face him. I simply couldn't face Snape after listening to his story because it seemed, the more I learnt about his past the more I wavered on my former opinion of him. Sure the man was still a mean bastard who had openly sided with the Slytherins and had had no tolerance for me whatsoever because of my father's treatment of him but, that, unfortunately did not keep me from empathizing with him just a little!

And I think it was because of these new unfamiliar thoughts that everything became even more difficult for me to accept. Especially the thought that I might have even forgiven him somewhat, for having been such a prick towards me all the time! Unable to cope with this new concept I found myself running from the Hogs Head pub hoping to find some peace and quiet to sort it all out!

Deciding to do some work rather than just loitering around the place as ready bait for some fortuitous death eater, I apparated outside the door of the 'Hanged Man,' which was the name of another seedy pub located in none other than Tom Riddle's own hometown, the Little Hangleton.

The pub's management, I'd only recently discovered, had been taken over by rather cankerous, smelly old man, which long hours of research had proved him to be an unrepentant, ex-convict from Azkaban whose new sponsor remained enshrouded in mystery.

The place had become the regular haunt of one Mr. Barty Crouch Jr. whom I had been shadowing as one of the key suspects in the foreign ambassadors massacre for about nearly two weeks now.

The man/boy whom I had initially thought of as nothing but a spoilt brat, clamoring for his father's attention forced me to change my opinion of him within the short time that I had been following him.

I found out from close observation that he was genuinely depressed and lacking when it came to having a firm direction in his life. His father whose unrealistic dreams for him had kept him bogged down for a while now and his mother's ill-health and said father's continual absence due to long hours of work had made him come to despise the man so much so that every time he got drunk he'd let the entire bar know of his father's failing's in a loud, unreserved voice that openly displayed his pain and disillusionment so clearly that I had almost come to feel sorry for the poor bugger.

Don't get me wrong though! I knew his background story and really felt for him but I also knew that that wasn't enough to stop me from going after him if he was indeed responsible for all those deaths. Especially the terrible crime I knew from history that was going to commit in the future in the name of his fallen lord in year 1991 when he'd go after the Longbottom's, ultimately depriving Neville of his parents.

No mercy! I reminded myself. Sure, I'd be changing history but if it would help Neville this way and if I could only prevent that bitch Lestrange from driving Alice and Frank Longbottom from going mental, I would; no matter what the outcome.

Again I felt that blinding pain whenever I thought of that particular death eater and the Godfather she took from me while cackling like a goddamn hyena! Sirius Black, the man whom I had spent hours agonizing over all summer long in Privet drive with feelings of guilt, loss and pain all colluding together mercilessly. His death, I still struggled to come to terms with even to this day as I was unable to comprehend the mysterious veil he had fallen behind.

Bellatrix who had mocked us all in his final hour made me want to avenge every single person who had suffered by her hands. In fact my most recent musings had led me to thinking that just maybe I could change some of their sad fates by protecting them in this timeline! And the first step I'd be making towards that insane but genius direction was by testing the waters with this Barty Crouch case!

"Yo Barty! Just the bloke I was looking for!" Some called out his name in a loud voice making several people in the bar swivel their heads towards its owner when I saw Crouch's face pale with sudden recognition and his pupils darted about in panic.

Turning around to see who could have wrought such a change in him, I nearly ended up choking on my bottle of Mc Spratt's sparkling spring water when it turned out to be Evan bloody Rosier who I knew had dropped out of school to join Voldemort's death eaters and who had ended up dying because of good ol' Moody during the first war.

Now the living breathing, barely eighteen year old, strutted up to the table as if he owned the filthy pub and knocked on the table's surface in front of Crouch before stealing his drink from him and downing it in one gulp.

"We've gotta leave" Rosier slapped down a couple of galleons on the table before hoisting up the unsteady drunk he had come for to his feet. "The chaps want to talk to you about something important so we've gotta get moving" he dragged the sodden fool outside the door while I saw several other men in the bar shoot pitying looks his way.

"Wher…where are we going?" Crouch slurred but went along quite willingly with the other man without putting up any resistance whatsoever.

"You've been gabbing about us all a bit too much lately, haven't ya?" Rosier smirked evilly "The guys have been wanting to give you a bit of some kindly advice to make you shut your pie-hole" he snickered gleefully while Crouch hung his head in sad resignation but let himself be propelled towards what could definitely not have had a good outcome for him.

I waited a bit until I knew it was safe to follow and then hiding behind a tree outside the pub I watched as they headed straight towards a dilapidated barn not far from the Hanged man itself. Wishing for my invisibility cloak, I followed them sneakily and immediately began looking for a window or some kind of opening in wall which would aid me in my task of eavesdropping on the conversation inside.

Finding the perfect spyhole, I peered into the dark room beyond it and felt intimidated by the five or six death eaters gathered around in a circle, surrounding a sobbing, penitent Crouch and mocking him in loud, garish voices through their gleaming silver masks.

They kicked him mercilessly and Crucioed him until he couldn't find the voice to scream and through it all I stood feeling utterly revolted and helpless when I couldn't save the poor bastard from his fate.

"The dark Lord is unaware of your idiocy" one of the death eater's hollow tone, rang out in the night "and he continues to remain pleased with your efforts during last wee…"

I never saw or heard it coming and so was left reeling in horrified shock when someone who had snuck up upon me when I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings slammed my head into the wooden wall in from of me with enough force to be able to crack my skull open.

But I had not been training in vain with the Prewitt brother after all and managing to stay conscious I whipped out my wand before the other man, who was definitely not expecting any resistance, could call out for more back up. Whispering a quick stupefy I hastened to move away from the fallen man in front of me when I suddenly heard the front door of the barn creak open and was joined by three more rather fierce looking death eaters.

Backing up slowly, I tried apparating myself out of that hellhole but was stunned when absolutely nothing happened! The entire place I realized in that horrible moment had been rigged with multiple anti-apparating and intruder alerting charms and that I was trapped like some cornered animal!

"Who the fu** are you?" one of the men slowly approached me with his wand held up at ready.

"I…I was just passing by when I thought I heard something strange so I…"

"Ever heard of how curiosity killed the cat?" the man beside him sniggered as if I was of no consequence at all.

I could have begged and pleaded of course, but for one, I knew it would have been a futile attempt and two, after the triwizard fiasco in Hogwarts during my fourth year, I had promised myself never to bow or kneel willingly in front of scum like this ever again.

"Die!" The third man obviously tiring of this whole cat and mouse game drawled "He's just a stupid boy" he dismissed me callously and just as a blindingly, green light erupted at the end of his wand, I ducked and rolled over as I had learnt to do in practice and using what little skill I possessed in the DADA and the element of surprise on my side, I threw a rather strong and destructive Confringo spell in their direction and took to running away from them simultaneously to find myself an open place to be able to apparate in peace.

Not even bothering to look back at the results of my handiwork, which I knew would have been considerable since I'd been learning to actually control the humungous force of magic within me, I ran and ran until though my lungs would burst but they didn't let up and inch frustrated at being bested by a mere 'boy'.

"Get the fu****!" One of the death eater's behind me cried out and I suddenly experienced a searing pain over my left calf as I dodged the volley of spells that were being thrown at me one after another while I stumbled and struggled to maintain the pace I'd managed to run at thus far.

Because it was night time and I couldn't risk using Lumos I got thoroughly pummeled by several low lying branches and twigs as I made my hurried getaway but willfully ignored pain and did not stop, not even when I recognized an Entrail-Expelling curse being flung at me from behind.

"Stupefy! Impedimenta! Expelliarmus!..." I ran and ran until I finally came across an open space of land and tried desperately to calm myself so that I wouldn't end up splinching myself if I managed to apparate!

"There he is!" I heard the shouts getting closer and closer feeling the heat from their spells as they whizzed past me once again. Deciding that it was now or never, I panted out a soft "Hogs Head pub!" and found, to my utter happiness, that this time it had worked but just barely when I saw that I'd lost some of the fabric from my robes during my journey!

Deducing that I'd indeed landed in the quiet but familiar streets of Hogsmaede, I quickly hobbled over to the pub while shooting worried glances all around me only letting go of my fears once I was safely behind the doors of what had become home to me.

"Cripes!" I felt someone rushing over to my side and roughly managing to prop up my sagging body with the strength of their own before leading me towards a narrow stool nearby.

"Dean! What the hell happened to you?" I recognized Fabian's tensed voice but was much too drained to formulate a reply of my own and slumped against the bar counter instead of facing the barrage of questions being thrown my way.

"Let the lad sleep" Ab said as he slowly made his way down the staircase "He looks like he's goin' to be needin' a bit of a rest to be able to talk ter us so soon."

I had known Ab for about nearly three months now so I could easily recognize the tone of relief in his voice at seeing me without him having to actually state it out aloud.

"But…" Gideon argued "What if…"

"No!" Ab's tone brooked no argument "Put him up in my chamber since the Snape lad's still sleeping on his bed and come back ter join me fer a spot of drink" he lumbered off behind the bar intent on mixing the drinks while the Prewitt brothers levitated my battered body and tucked me under the warm covers of Ab's bed.

* * *

**_Harry_**

**_1978, The next morning._**

* * *

"So you're telling us that Barty Crouch's son is in cahoots with the bloody death eaters?" Fabian's mouth hung open in his disbelief "But Barty's almost fanatic about justice! He'll be utterly devastated to learn about this!"

_He was, _I couldn't help sighing as I remembered how Barty had gone against every single one his principles to be able to protect his wayward son in the future. How his wife and he had betrayed the entire system in their fight to keep their son from going to Azkaban.

"I know that they're working together but I couldn't find out if he was actually involved in the massacre or not because I was too busy having my head shoved into the wall" I grinned feeling so much braver in the light of the day and with a scrumptious breakfast laid out in front of me.

"That's not funny you nutter!" Gideon mumbled "You could have died last night you know?"

"Anyway…" I tried not to look into their concerned faces as I dug into a pile of rather buttery scrambled eggs on my plate "What are we going to do with all this new Intel now?"

"Fabian and I are going to get a search warrant which will enable us to be able search the poor sods house" Gideon rubbed the nape of his neck glumly "But it's going to be a really uphill battle because Barty's got quite a bit of clout at the Ministry and the Wizengamot already thinks that he can do no wrong so..."

"So in the meanwhile I'm going to keep following his son if I can" I said this very quickly while waving away all of their rebuttals "I knew that I was on the right track when I started this mission so I'm going to keep going until the very end."

"Dean…" Ab who had been a silent spectator until then suddenly jumped into the fray.

"No!" I said stubbornly while trying not to sound too petulant "I'm almost as old as you guys are" I glowered at the Prewitt brother's pointedly "and though I agree that I'm not as good at fighting with the opposition as you lot are I can still help you guys out."

"You've already proven to us that you can Dean" Fabian tried to placate me "but for some reason that I can't explain, I feel like I need to keep you safe somehow, to protect you. I feel like you're still much too young and inexperienced to be involved in all this dangerous business."

His face furrowed by worry lines reminded me so much of his sister's expression that I couldn't help but smile up at him. Who knew that I would be accepted so easily into their fold when I was but a stranger to them?

Their concern for me felt good and comforting but even I knew that my being here was an opportunity that I simply could not afford to waste and that I had to take full advantage of the situation. So, I continued to ignore their kind words until the younger version of Snape descended upon us for breakfast.

"Are ye ready to face the headmaster today son?" Ab asked him not missing a beat while he wiped the glasses on the shelves behind him with that sickening rag he loved so dearly.

"I guess I have to be" Snape the ever _friendly_ bastard sniped at his well-meaning question.

"Yes you have to" Fabian said firmly. "If you want to find some measure of freedom from your current situation you're certainly going to need all the help you can get!"

Grunting rather rudely, the greasy haired but strangely good-looking boy (in a bad boy sort of way) looked up at us frowningly until his gaze fell upon me and lingered there for an instant as a look of confusion stole into his eyes before he reverted back to sipping on the freshly made and rather precious pumpkin juice which Ab had been able to acquire only after much haggling with our usual supplier.


	11. Chapter 11

**DISCLAIMER: THE BOOK BELONGS TO J. I HAVE ONLY BORROWED BOTH CHARACTERS AND PLOTLINE.**

* * *

_**Harry**_

_**1978, Hogwarts.**_

* * *

"Are you guys sure that I can tagalong?" I couldn't help but feel a tiny bit excited at the prospect of finally being able to visit Hogwarts after having lived in such close vicinity to the beloved castle for so long now.

In fact I had even contemplated on telling the Dumbledore from this time about my unfortunate mishap and how I came to be here but in end decided that that would be skirting the boundaries of time travel way too much so I let it slide and instead kept a lookout for the missing hourglass.

"Just stay down here in the courtyard so that the Headmaster doesn't actually catch sight of you and we'll tell him that you're just another part-timer working at old Ab's place."

"You told me that man was a wily old bastard who could read minds and you're going to lie to him?" I thought of Dumbledore's piercingly blue eyes that saw everything about a person in an instant and I had to laugh to myself when I thought about how these two were planning to keep me hidden from him while in plain sight.

"Fine!" Gideon grumbled "So do you want to come or not?"

Lightly smirking at the man, I gestured for him to lead the way into what looked like a dark, damp corridor, which apparently led to straight Hogwarts itself, but was kept hidden from the rest of the world by moving portrait of the strange girl in the pub room at Hog's head.

Following closely behind him, I couldn't help but keep an eye on Snape's back as he strode through passage without so much a hint of his near death experience lingering anywhere on his person. I knew for a fact however, that this newfound confidence had come about only after Ab and Fabian had sat his proud arse down and had given him nearly two hours-worth of lecturing while letting him talk about himself, after which they had all emerged from the room looking decidedly worn out but somehow more peaceful.

I figured that Ab would still want to keep a close watch on him in case he relapsed and tried to off himself but that was a plan he would have to discuss with the rest of us well at a much later date.

Once we had reached the castle itself, the other pushed me towards the courtyard while they themselves headed off towards Dumbledore's chambers with the promise of returning within the hour.

Looking around the grounds and the lake I felt strangely nostalgic as if I couldn't quite grasp the concept of being in a Hogwarts that was all but alien to me. The absence of my friends and professors hit me in the gut with such force that I felt the tears prickle out at the very corners of my eyes which I tried blinking back but my efforts had no effect on the gravity of the situation that had settled so heavily down on me that it started to feel like the black sludge from the dirtiest sewer.

I was just about to lob a nicely flattened rock out onto the placid waters of the lake when I heard someone come running up to me all the while calling me by dad's name making me feel almost exposed by the innocent blunder.

Turning around to see who it was I felt my heart shudder and stop in the middle of my chest when I saw much younger, healthier, wholesome, handsome Sirius Black come charging towards but immediately halting in his tracks when he took a good look at my face.

"Bloody hell!" He howled with laughter "I thought that you were James Potter a friend of mine!" He still was panting from all the running he'd done but that didn't stop him from taking another step closer towards me to gape at my face in awe at the resemblance I knew I shared with my father.

"Crikey!" He looked absolutely tickled pink by this latest discovery of his so he had no inkling about how close I was to hyperventilating at seeing my living, breathing Godfather standing so close to me!

"I'm Sirius Black by the way" he held out his hand towards me with a wolfish grin I'd come to love back in my own time but which was seen so rarely that I was shocked by the exuberance that this man I could barely recognize exuded.

How much Azkaban had taken away from him? How much had the loss of his friends and the betrayal of another affected him?

"I'm Ha—Dean Thomas" I had almost blurted out my name from wanting so desperately for him to know who I was and to hug me in that warm way that was unique to him alone.

"Siri!" I heard someone call out for the roguish young man standing in front of me and nearly had a heart attack when I saw that the voice belonged to my father James Potter who seemed to be dragging a reluctant Lupin and Pettigrew behind him.

It was like I'd died and gone to heaven only to have been so suddenly accosted by my family and I simply dreaded the descent which I knew was in offing.

"Yo James!" Sirius thumped him hard on his shoulder "I think I just stumbled upon your very own doppelganger, you lucky bastard!" He pulled my father to stand closer to me and I was infinitely glad that my own gasp was just barely drowned out by the louder one he'd made when he'd first started to inspect me with what I suspected had been a rather cynical eye.

"Unbelievable!" His mouth had fallen open in shock and he was soon flanked by the other who were chorusing his exclamation with certain glee.

Again we all made the necessary introductions and while I remained silent, trying to coax some feeling back into my suddenly numb legs, the others were chatting up a storm when Lupin informed them that it was time for class in that calm but insistent manner he had had all his life.

"Dean" Sirius shouted as they headed back into the castle "Let's hang out once we're done with the exams and all yeah?"

"S—sure" I said eagerly "I'm working at the Hogs Head pub anyway so it shouldn't be too much of a problem!"

"Brilliant!" Sirius laughed "Then how about a round of drinks on the house, eh?"

"Sounds good" I shrugged trying to look as nonchalant as possible "All…all of y'all will be coming then?" I tried not to stare too hard at my father who was smiling happily back at me.

" 'Course!" James grinned infectiously and waved as they jogged back and only then did it hit me that I'd seen Peter Bloody Pettigrew with them and felt a terrible rage, like nothing I've felt before overtake my senses. I had just found another purpose in this new life and that was to feed the bloody traitor to countless acromantula spiders residing in the bowels of the dark forest itself before he went ahead and betrayed them all!

The hour was nearly over by the time they'd left me so when I headed back into Hogwarts I was not overly surprised to find Snape standing awkwardly by the door looking at me with mixture of pride, distaste, anger and most surprising of all, gratitude written all over his normally sour countenance!

"I just wanted to thank you for…er…for finding me when you did, so…" He looked ready to barf out the contents of his breakfast by the time he was done with his speech so taking pity on the guy I simply inclined my head in acknowledgment before turning away from him.

"Wait!" He suddenly stopped me in my tracks "Are you…are you related to the Potter's by any chance" he looked at me with such genuine curiosity that I had to bite down on the insides of my cheeks to keep from laughing out aloud.

"I was born an orphan in this world" I tried to stick to white lies as much as possible but his face immediately became stricken at my words and he nodded rather curtly at me which I supposed was his way of showing me sympathy.

"Just so you know" the words looked like they were being ripped out of his mouth as he spoke them but I continued to listen to him without a hint of emotion on my face "I've just decided to join the Order of the Phoenix in the capacitance of its official spy" he looked at me as if he were expecting derision to pour forth from my person but I only felt an infinite sadness for the mess his life was about to become and for the dangers that he was about to face.

I'll never know why or what prompted me to act as strangely as I did after that short but brave speech of his. But somewhere within the deepest recesses of my mind that was the first time I started seeing this younger version of Snape as a completely different person from the one in the future and I knew that I'd done right by him when I gently drew him towards me, enfolding him in a warm hug that spoke volumes on comfort and support that I'd started to feel almost obliged to offer him. Only withdrawing when his body which had gentled by my touch for an instant suddenly pulled away from me and he stood with an almost comically shocked expression on his face as he stumbled out of the reach of my grasp before running towards his common room without so much as a backward glance.

"What's gotten him so spooked?" Fabian had one eyebrow raised questioningly as he walked towards where I was standing. But suddenly overcome by feelings of self-consciousness and thrown off balance I just shrugged and let the matter slide.

"Dumbledore's just gone and gotten himself another willing scape-goat" Gideon came up from somewhere behind us with an unhappy expression on his face "But then again the choice between the devil and the deep sea is an impossible one to make so I guess you just have to suck it up like the poor kid did and make the bloody decision."

"He will be an absolute asset to our establishment since he's like a genius potioneer and an accomplished occlumens! The old man was literally frothing in the mouth for having won such an unexpected prize" Fabian shook his head at the headmaster's antics with some mirth.

"We'll help him out if things get too tough for him" Gideon nodded in agreement and I knew that he spoke on both our behalves.

I was no saint and could cling to a grudge like any other normal person. I did not agree entirely with the new proposal immediately because my history with Snape went a lot more deeper than just superficial pride. But then again as I tasted the bitterness of changing attitudes, I told myself never say never!


	12. Chapter 12

**DISCLAIMER: THE BOOK BELONGS TO J. I HAVE ONLY BORROWED BOTH CHARACTERS AND PLOTLINE.**

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_**Snape**_

_**1978, Slytherin Tower**_

_**Warning: Uncharacteristic Musing**_

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Green! Dean's eyes were a stunning shade of green that shone with more depth than even Lily's eyes did! It was almost as if they harbored an old soul within the man! As if he'd lived and matured through some tumultuous experience in life that had somehow given him an aura of serenity that I saw so rarely in people especially during troubled times such as ours.

Never in my life had I felt so thoroughly surrounded by kindness. So safe, that I started shivering from its loss as if I were in denial and most of all as if I was struggling with some bone-deep desire that I couldn't quite put a name to as yet. Had I been so deprived of affection all my life that I could nearly came unglued from a mere hug and that to from a total stranger?

Drawing up my knees like a shield in front of me, I lay curled up on the soft mattress over my bed and prayed for these disgusting thoughts to go away until I could focus all of my attention on the more pressing matter of becoming another stupid pawn in this never ending war.

I'll give what I can but nothing more, I told myself firmly. No one, not a single soul will ever again be able to make me do something against my will, never again!


End file.
